Four south Louisiana stores were shuttered during the year: Sears locations in Baton Rouge's Cortana Mall and Gretna's Oakwood Mall, and Kmarts in New Orleans and Gonzales.

Liquidation sales at these stores are set to begin as early as January 12.

Employees at the stores were informed of the pending closures on Thursday. Eligible employees will be offered severance and eligible to apply for vacancies at other stores, Sears said.

The announced closures reduce the total number of Sears stores in the United States to about 641 from 3,500 locations in 2010.

Another round of Kmart and Sears closings is slated for the coming weeks, Sears Holding Company announced.

The latest store closings include Kmarts in Crossville, Goodlettsville and Greeneville, Tenn., and in Statesboro, Albany and Jesup, Ga., and a Sears store in Centerville, Ga. Red Oak's Kmart store is among those shutting its doors.

"Of course, our economic development crew, and Montgomery County Development Corporation will probably be in contact with Sears Holdings to see if there's anything we can do to change their minds".

Sears chief financial officer Rob Riecker said in a recent conference call with analysts that the retailer would be focusing on improving the customer experience in its remaining stores.

Shoppers were out at 6 am Thursday to get early "Black Friday" deals, as they hit the stores in Salisbury.

The move comes in addition to closing about 250 stores announced previous year. Overall sales across the USA grew by 4.9 percent from November 1 to December 24.

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